Dr. Feelgood

by

Mötley Crüe

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This is Motley Crue's best and most focused album, with Shout and the '94 Corabi album coming in tied for second. After years of shoddy, drug-influenced work with Tom Werman, The boys hooked up with future Metallica producer Bob Rock. They're commitment to sobriety was a long time coming, and with Bob Timmons help, they finally built up the courage to live clean and say nope to dope. This album was recorded around the same time Aerosmith was working on their classic "Pump". In fact both bands studios were right next to each other! On Dr. Feelgood, the production is crisp and clear. The days of partying with chicks and kegs of booze in the studio were over, no more of Nikki being too strung out to play, the Crue finally gave it 110% effort the whole way through the recording process and it paid off. Big time. Their first (and only) album to top the charts. Every song but 1 released as a single. 6 Hit videos on MTV. A Sold-Out world tour played to all corners of the earth. The Metal Edge readers choice award for 1990. An American Music award for favorite Hard Rock album. I could go on & on.

I'll review this song by song (my ratings are in parenthesis)

1.T.nT "Terror 'n Tinseltown)-Nice intro, sets the tone. (5/5)

2.Dr. Feelgood-The infamous title track, features an excellent Tommy Lee back beat, clever lyrics. I Like Mick Mars demonic voice at the end. (5/5)

3.Slice of your Pie-Has a great blues influence, Steven Tyler co-arranged it. (4/5)

4.Rattlesnake shake-Rollicking mainframe, with a full horn and piano section. Vince Neil is in fine form vocally. (5/5)

5.Kickstart my heart-A top ten hit, Heavy riff, excellent slowed down bridge, and a kick-ass Tommy Lee drum solo to finish it off. The video was a blistering, in-your-face performance. (5/5)

6.Without You-Motley's second best ballad besides "Home sweet home". It's very deep and sentimental, heart-felt. (5/5)

7.Same ol' Situation-Nikki Sixx plays a nice bass line, tells an interesting story. I loved the video back in the day, Motley were at the top of the mountain, music-wise and commercially.

This song, along with Dr. Dre's "Next episode" played in my head while in line for my last paycheck of Summer 2000. (5/5)

8.Sticky Sweet-Top notch musicianship. Takes me back to September 1990 when I got my new bike. (5/5)

9.She Goes Down-Packed with sass, raunch and a chugging backbeat towards the end. (5/5)

10.Don't go away mad (Just go away)-Yet another megahit, it's a power rocker, with a catchy chorus. The coda is terrific. the video sort of foretells the internal conflict and tensions that arose in early 1992. (5/5)

11.Time for a change-A perfect closer. It's socially aware with relevant lyrics. And the chorus sounds like a choir singing. The only downside I can think of is in the title, The band is talking about change. Unfortunately the wrong kind happened, 2 years later in the Fall of '91. Music changed big time. Grunge exploded out of nowhere and bands like the Crue fell out of favor. It was the end of an era. The reign of the Hair Bands ended overnight. That said this track is still a 5/5.

If you don't own this album yet you're in luck. In 1999 the band acquired their back catalog and Master tapes from Elektra and started their own label called Motley records/Beyond. Their previous albums were re-issued under the Crucial Crue series, it's fitting that this was their best album, because it's also the best of the re-releases.

There's new liner notes pertaining to info on selected songs, and Demo versions of songs as well as unreleased tracks. The title cut has different words and it's an interesting listen. You can hear what's missing and in turn corrected on the final songs.

The demos for "Without You" and "Kickstart my heart" don't pack quite the punch of their album counterparts, all things considered, they're still pretty decent as is.

The unreleased track "Get it for free" Is good, but it seems more fit for the Girls, Girls, Girls album. It would have seemed out of place on Feelgood. It makes sense to me why it was left off.

My review is a bit lengthy, but by now you get the point. Don't miss out on this Rock-N-Roll classic. As I said before, It's Motley Crue at their creative and commercial pinnacle.